Oh, just in mortal danger..., (Don't mind lil ol' me.)

[Laughingflame]

For the Lazy People like Me: Robnikit is right next to the opening of a badger den where a colony of badgers is planning to charge her, and it's sunny. Yep...

The sky was a pure powdered-blue, with nary a racing cloud to spot the cerulescent spread. The sun shone above, a great orb of life that smiled warmly over the land, making drops of dew that shone on delicate long virescent grass and the quivering shapes of leaves that ranged ever shade of green imaginable. Indeed, greenleaf had come in all majesty, with a flowing robe of vines and hair like the elongated and flimsy branches of the willow. Soft winds whistled a sweet song with the birds, kissing the land daintily. So stark to the lucid canopy above was the forest situated at the southwest corner of the magnificent forest, separated by a gray-stoned river and another body of water that was a true river--gurgling till it fell off the sharp gorge in a splash of olive greens and subtler tones of ultramarine. Long willows grew on the sides and many flat leaden rocks were stocked in short piles. But as the trees grew more clustered, only the smallest slices of light ever touched the ruddy leaf litter. Even in high noon, this part of the forest remained in a cool shadow that was like twilight without the usual persisting shades of purple.

The stark and vast contrast of the luridness of the inside to the lucidness of the outside was matched only by the lingering noise. Birdsong resonated among the bottle green leaves and threaded among the tall, proud wood of trees. The sound of voles and mice could be barely heard among the din, but they were obviously there. Louder than all of that was the sound of trudging through the forest, leaf litter being trampled under clumsy feet, the clumsy feet of an ocher tabby she-kit.

Now, Robinkit hadn’t meant to get lost from her mum, Larksong. But she was now. When Robinkit had woken up with her dusty blue eyes barely shining, she remembered the brown form of Pebblekit and the long fur of Larksong. That wasn’t weird to her, but then a sound started to prick at her young ears—she was almost six moons now and knew when something was seriously strange—and at first Robinkit thought it was a trick of the wind. But it formed into words, strong and bold, and they sang in a low tone, “Come to us, young kit. Come, for your destiny lies far from home.” Robinkit couldn’t remember much after that except she left the warmth of her mother to the warmth of the world and after a while she had reawaken—she had been in a trance. The voice still was calling stiffly, “Come ginger kit. Your fate lies closer.” And although Robinkit knew she was lost, her paws seemed to have a mind of their own until she finally realised that she wasn’t wandering in circles but was going purposefully towards that sound. And yet the ginger kit felt no fear, even when a strange scent blasted on the roof of her mouth.
However, she did feel a strange prickle as her feet marched her away without any resistance towards a large craggy boulder than hung over a very dark hole. Robinkit went on, and stopped a fox-length from the entrance, suddenly feeling herself come back. The voices were stronger now—

“What is yours will be ours, as fate does decree,
The destiny of your world rests in the paws of three.
One is the saviour, gone sour for now,
Second will force the cosmos to bow,
But last best you fear for despite as it seems,
He’ll split the forest in half till it breaks towards the seams,
Scales will be tipped and scarlet will spill,
And we, my dear, will at last have our fill.”

The voice stopped, and suddenly became haggard and grunting. The orange hairs along Robinkit’s hackles suddenly shot up as a black-and-white striped face suddenly emerged from the shadows, its maw open and grumbling a laugh. Her paws felt like they had cemented into the ground and she froze entirely—there would be no escape. The last thing Robinkit yowled before it charged with its lumbering gait was on one word:
“BADGERS!!!”

[Rain]

It was a slow day for Flamewing, who had gone out to hunt out of boredom but tired even of that, the sun beating down on her ginger fur causing the warrior to become oddly lethargic for her. She lay in the middle of a clearing in a shaft of sunlight, her green eyes halfway shut, when her ears picked up the terrified mewling of a kit:

"Badgers!"

That roused Flamewing immediately. She leaped to her paws and hurtled as fast as she could towards the scent of kit and stench of badger, hoping fervently she'd get there in time. She skidded to a halt in front of the kit, breathing heavily, and snarled in a badger's face, nose screwed up at the thing's stench.

"Stay away!"

[Laughingflame]

Bright frightened dusky cyanic eyes swerved to meet those of Flamewing's, and she felt her senses restored. The tense feeling in her legs immediately began to dissapear, instead filling with the instinct of fight or flight--flight sounded like a good route right now. A burst of energy roused herslf as she looked at the badger's distorting face, its wet black nose twitching as it took in the scents of the cats. Robinkit was surprised at its beady eyes, calm and of the same rich browns of a forest pool. Its stubby ghostly white claws suddenly came into view as it lumbered ahead, and the fox-length between them was being cut short as the badger approached Flamewing and Robinkit, whose red pelts caught the sunlight as the trees ruffled temporarily with a breeze far too high to feel on the sides of their whiskers. At Flamewing's snarling warning, the badger stopped, clearly because it thought that Flamewing would attack it with her opened maw and threatening glistening teeth. The badger came to almost a stop and observed the two ginger cats, its head swinging from side to side. Then words blasted into Robinkit's mind as it began snarling and growling, looking towards the dark cavern from which it had come.

"My bretheren, time is coming--these will lead us to the other colony. Easy meal before the terror strikes even water to flame." It was quiet and sweet, so sweet, with only a bare hint of the thick rasp in the sound. As soon as the striped beast stopped grunting and turned its head, so did the voice. Somehow Robinkit knew she understood the language of the badgers--not a skill regularly seen in Clan cats. The ginger kit looked up at Flamewing urgently, her blue eyes almost electric.

"There are more!" she mewed, her tone entirely urgent as she began to back away. "We can't go to camp or we'll lead them to the Clan. We're going to have to circle and lose 'em till we can tell Copperstar." The sureness Robinkit found in her voice surprised even her as she began to step back, staying on the ThunderClan warrior's ginger left flank. "We have to move now or the others will come too. What's your name again?"

[Rain]

Flamewing's fur stood on end all down her back as the badger stopped and looked behind it. It began to growl and snarl in a voice quite unlike the snarl of any other animal, including dogs. Flamewing had heard many in her time, but the badger's voice she disliked the most. Flattening her ears against her head, Flamewing curled her lips and hissed. She had learned scant smatterings of the language of other animals during her time among the rogues, but by no means was able to communicate with the great striped beast. The one word Flamewing picked up was the first she had learned: "meal." That meant trouble.

But then she stopped, noticing something. The kit by her side stood alert, as though she was listening to something speak to her. But what in the world would be speaking? Surely the kit couldn't understand the badger's words. Then Robinkit looked up at the ginger-pelted warrior, bright blue eyes boring into Flamewing's dark green ones. As the kit began to back away, Flamewing listened in surprise to her urgent but confident words.

"You speak with great conviction for a kit, especially one facing possible death," Flamewing said in a low voice, "and you speak wisely, too. My name is Flamewing. You are one of Larksong's kits, are you not? Robinkit, if I'm not mistaken. You're quite correct, Robinkit; we're going to run, and run for a while. I can carry you if you'd like, but make your decision quickly, because I'm not staying to wrestle a badger. Or, as you believe, badgers."

[Laughingflame]

Robinkit shot Flamewing a look of pure joy, the colour of blue skies after a heavy thunderstorm. She had never really been complimented in her life like this. Now her job was to make sure her life would not end so abruptly. "Thank you, Flamewing, but I think it would be easier if I run with you." She began to walk backwards as she said it, and she glanced at the badger with a silence warning glare. "Besides, I'm going to be apprenticed soon. It'll be a good stretch, eh?" Her hackles were barely raised--it was obvious this was much more of a game than anything else. The badger paused as it listened to the mewing of the cats with a blank stare that understood nothing. Robinkit knew it wouldn't be difficult to manipulate them. Badgers were really just big bullies, slow when charging and cumbersome with their turns. They were scavengers, not predators like the lithe cats before it.

As if on cue to its stopping, another pointed striped face poked out of the hole, with small white ears quivering in apparent excitement. It started grunting, but by then Robinkit hadn't stuck around to find out what the words were. Her ears flattened close to her newly sprouted sleek ruddy fur with swirling stripes of darker red. Her paws barely touched the warm soil as her heart beat wildly. She dodged tree trunks and low pointed branches. A pounding of feet on the forest floor told her the badgers weren't far behind her, and she desperately hoped Flamewing was the closest sound at her rear, protecting her. Robinkit had no idea about the lay of the land, and in all direness wished that the ginger she-cat would be able to call a warning if they were approaching a ledge or ravine. "Flamewing!" she panted as the footsteps of the badgers started to grow fainter through the din in Robinkit's ears, "If we get out of this alive, d'you think Copperstar will let you mentor me?"

[Rain]

Flamewing nodded with approval at Robinkit's declaration that she would run by herself. It was true that it would be a good start for her upcoming apprenticeship, as long as the two ginger-furred cats managed to survive long enough for Robinkit to gain her apprentice name. She unsheathed her claws and flexed them, digging in and out of the soft loam beneath her paws. Her fangs were bared once more, and by the time she saw the second badger looming out from the dark of the sett, her entire body was tense with anticipation.

When the second badger began speaking-- and this time Flamewing picked up nothing, though she didn't really expect to-- she could sense Robinkit running. The first badger lumbered straight at the warrior; Flamewing took to flight just in time, and the badger coudn't stop, narrowly avoiding a tree. However, the second was hard on her heels, and she could smell a third coming, as well.

Flamewing saw the red kit running, and swerved to catch up with her. Upon hearing Robinkit's request, she was pleasantly surprised, and gasped out, "I have no idea who Copperstar had in mind to mentor you, but I'd enjoy having you as my apprentice. I'll ask him when we get back, because we will make it back." She paused to catch her breath again, though not slowing down, and continued in short breaths, "We're approaching a small ravine. Stop on the edge and stay there. When the badgers charge, leap out of the way; they don't have the control to stop and will plunge straight down."

[Laughingflame]

"Right!" Robinkit mewed with excitement rich in her voice. She started to slow her pace, comforted to know that Flamewing was still with her. However, it was more of a slowed pace because she knew the ravine was coming--if she didn't stop her fate would equate that of the badgers. The forest was staring to grow thin, the grand trees more sparse and the soggy leaf litter was becoming less and less full. Only a few gray and brown leaves scuffled now as Robinkit's ginger paws scrabbled hard against the ground and the matted grass. And yes--more light than ever was pouring down its pale golden spell. The grass was now everywhere, the trees thinned out more than ever, and only the ferns and gorse dared grow.

Robinkit looked as far as her turquiose-blue eyes could possibly see, trying to contract her face as she did so while managing to run all at once. Well, she was a she-kit; multitasking wasn't that hard for her. Between eight fox-lengths and seven fox-lengths she noticed more of the greenery was not coming towards her and she immediately knew there was a steep drop. The ravine. The wind was a tailwind behind them, helping the cats gain speed and Robinkit suddenly wondered how they would stop after going at such high speed. They weren't badgers, but the red she-kit had no idea how the warriors did it after the fastest kills.

"Run by me how we're going to stop," Robinkit mewed as the edge of the drop came closer and closer.

[Rain]

Flamewing glanced at the kit running beside her, paws pounding the ground beneath as she ran. It had taken the pale red she-cat a quarter turn of the moon to train her muscles to stop when she told them to stop; she had forgotten the kit might not have her reflexes so sharply trained. She turned her emerald eyes forwards again, keeping the ravine in her sight, and said, "It's mostly reflex, Robinkit. Try to stop if you think you can, or turn and run sideways at the edge so you can slow down without too much worry."

With that, Flamewing leaped, closing the final few fox-lengths to the ravine in the air. She landed on all four paws and skidded a bit, but quickly regained her balance. Flamewing turned sharply, knocking a few stones underpaw into the ravine, whirling to face the badgers. Ginger flanks heaving as she fought to regain her breath as quickly as possible, jaws were parted wide for air, she stared unblinking at the approaching badgers, wondering what the bright and eager she-kit would choose to do.

[Laughingflame]

Robinkit didn't even bother to nod to Flamewing--they were going to fast to do anything, really. She kept her electric-blue eyes opened and imagined falling off the cliff, her claws scraping helplessly against the ravine before plunging with a writhing mass of black and white and gray, with badger scent blasting her scent glands. The edge of the ravine was coming, and by a pure instinct, she retracted her claws to slow herself and sped towards the side to plunge her unsheathed claws into a clump of reddish bracken, a few pebbles rolling down where she had begun her barely-stopped turn. Robinkit swung her head to see Flamewing, relieved, and quickly panted in huge gulps of air as several striped faces lumbered barely a tail-length away, their digging claws ripping up grass and soil as they ran. The first badger finally realised the drop. But it was far too late. The beast lost its grip on the ground and snorted as it rolled down the ravine in a gray blur as easily as the pebbles had before it.

The second one tried an earnest attempt at putting on its brakes. It dugs its claws harder into the ground to steady itself, but it continued to slide until it crashed into the first badger than he begun its fall. The brute tripped on him, falling to the side until it too began rolling the sheer decsent. Robinkit watched them with wide blue eyes, hoping it was over. But then, from the brush came one last of the weasel-headed creatures. Its eyes glittered darkly despite the sunshine and Robinkit shuddered. It didn't take much to realise from the powerful muscles and wide black paws that this was the leading boar of the colony. It had barely been walking, and presently locked a gaze with Flamewing, who looked extremely weakened from the run but ready to fight with ginger fur fluffed out and green eyes glaring. Robinkit felt her claws dig deeper in the frond of bracken cand desperately prayed to StarClan, Protect Flamewing!

[Rain]

Flamewing gave a sigh of relief as she saw Robinkit latch on to a bracken patch. For a moment she was worried that Robinkit's momentum would throw her over the edge anyway, but the kit was fine. The red warrior thanked StarClan she was safe.

Flamewing winced in-- not sympathy, exactly-- as the first badger tumbled head over heels, snorting all the way down until it hit the ground with a thud, soon to be followed by the second. One was still alive, but by the unearthly screeches it was emitting, it wouldn't be alive much longer. Flamewing began to pad over to Robinkit when a loud rustling of undergrowth made her freeze in her pawsteps and turn to lock gazes with the largest badger yet. She could tell that this one was probably the most powerful of the colony, and by its narrowed eyes and snorting breath, she knew it was out for blood.

Though her muscles were tired from the run, Flamewing had taught her body from an early age to ignore weariness if the need arose; and the need had indeed arisen. Curling her lips back and hissing at the beast, Flamewing stalked slowly forwards, jade eyes blazing, knowing that one mistake could mean her death.

[Laughingflame]

The boar snuffled its dark nose at the end of its pointed snout, the black and white stripes that led vertically down its face twitching in the most unnerving manner. His claws were immense and blunt. Robinkit remembered how her mum had always said dull, blunt claws were best in a battle, as long as it wasn't an ambush. Slowly, the ginger she-kit felt the world slip away from her until it was just her and the clump of ruddy bracken. The comforting sound of her mother's voice wafted into her small triangular ears as she recalled that conversation now:

"But why blunt claws, mum?" Robinkit had asked.
"Sharp claws snag easily. They tear up things, but blunt claws are different. They literally crush through skin and everything else," Larksong had replied.
"Ooh, don't baf-gers have blunt claws?!" Pebblekit had asked.
"They're badgers, not baf-gers, stupid!" Robinkit had mewed.
"Now, now, my kits, we will retain a civil discourse. Their claws are very strong, blunt on all sides and at the tip. They cannot have sharp claws. They dig all of the time, enlarging their setts so they are always being filed down. But you don't want to meet a badger, especially a boar! One swipe and your neck will snap like a twig in leaf-bare."
"What's a boar?" Pebblekit then piped up. "Is it a kind of fish?"

Robinkit sighed. She didn't need to know from her mum that even a warrior had no chance against a full-grown boar badger. It was obvious that the badger could even attack a fox--maybe a dog--head-on. "Wait, Flamewing," Robinkit mewed urgently, exposing herself as she leapt off of the badger. She gingerly stepped up by the ThunderClan warrior's flank, ignoring the confusion in her leaf green eyes. Robinkit knew it was too dangerous... but maybe... She attempted a growly snorting sound that roughly sounded something like what she had been hearing the badgers say earlier. More surprising, she understood it. "Your home. Your home."

The boar wrinkled his nose, twitching his white ears for a while. He seemed surprised by the growling snort coming from the kit far more than the fact that they were in a language he could understand. His eyes looked at Flamewing for a few seconds, then back at the she-kit. He grunted and growled a snorting sound. "My home. My kin dead. You die too, little kit. Not your home. You speak badger but, you are not of us. Cat accent thick. I kill you both. Cat easy prey."

Robinkit wrinkled her pink nose as her eyes were reduced to dark blue slits. "No. You just sour. Mean. Let me and Flamewing go home. We catch easy prey for you." The badger suddenly released a powerful, vibrating growl at the she-kit, who with a squeak of terror, took shelter closer to Flamewing's heaving red flank. "Sorry," she mumbled as she pulled away. "I think you might have to snap at him. He thinks we'd be an easy meal. Prove him wrong." She sounded fussy and bossy, but she felt that the badger was being no different anyway.

[Rain]

Flamewing started with surprise as the kit by her side began to emit the coarse, rough sounds of a badger. Staring down at the ruddy kit, Flamewing wondered exactly what Robinkit was doing, and if she even knew what she was doing. The surprise on her face was mirrored in the boar's, whose small, beady eyes gazed at the kit who had suddenly begun to speak his language.

Flamewing's confusion increased when, not only did the badger stop and listen to Robinkit, but he also began to answer. She didn't understand him until the final sentence: "Cat easy prey." Flamewing snarled in indignation. Easy prey? She flexed her claws, but other than that, didn't move; Robinkit was the one who spoke the beast's language, not she.

Robinkit's slitted eyes seemed to emit electricity as she spoke once more. This time the boar responded with a growling roar of sorts; not words, but one of sheer anger. The copper-furred warrior stepped sideways towards Robinkit just as the she-kit stepped towards Flamewing, but pulled away quickly. She spoke, this time in a language Flamewing could understand, sounding slightly flustered. Flamewing gave a slight purr of amusement.

"Of course, Robinkit," she meowed. "I never expected a badger to be one up for much negotiating. Now, watch; being smaller than your opponent can be turned to your advantage."

She darted forwards, keeping her body low to the ground. The boar was much larger than she was, but that didn't intimidate Flamewing. She rolled aside just in time to dodge a blow, blunted claws grazing her side; then darted between the brute's legs, gave a few quick scratches to his white-furred underbelly, and leaped away as quick as she could.

[Laughingflame]

The badger seemed to explode in anger from Flamewing's attack, his gray grizzled fur fluffed out. His teeth were bared, but his claws were in the ground. It seemed he did not want to move back towards Flamewing. Robinkit padded the distance towards the angered badger, and swiped him across his large black wet nose with unsheathed claws. Her attack didn't even break the skin, but the beady eyes of the badger flared only more. Once again, the red she-kit thought back to the other words she had heard. In a grunting snort, she growled, "Us no easy prey. You fight only with injury."

The badger looked as if he were going to charge and swipe off Flamewing's head then and there. "You are a strange kitten," was all the boar replied in the gruff grunting. Blood was slicking from his black underbelly, distinctive in badgers. "Easier prey elsewhere. I will not attack any of you cats on territory. Unless, they attack me." The badger didn't wait for Robinkit's reply. Instead, his white-and-black face swirled away from the two cats, and began to lumber unsteadily into the forest--but in a different direction from the sett. Robinkit looked up at Flamewing with blue eyes shining.

"We did it!"

[Rain]

Flamewing gazed wearily after the lumbering boar, her hazy mind registering that he was headed away from the sett and concluding it was as tired as she. The pale ginger warrior looked down at the kit whose azure eyes sparkled with glee. Flamewing purred again despite herself, tailtip twitching and green eyes triumphant.

"Yes, we did," Flamewing said. "I have to admit, Robinkit, you were braver than I would have expected any kit to be." She sat down and began to clean her left flank where the badger had clipped her with his claws. In between the rasps of her tongue, she inquired, "Where did you learn badger? It's not a common skill to be able to speak the language of others."

She looked at Robinkit, mildly curious, ears pricked forwards. The ruddy she-kit might not even know; nevertheless, it had been odd to see a small red kit snarling up into the black-and-white face of a beast easily twice her size.

[Laughingflame]

"I dunno," was Robinkit's short response. "I haven't even scented a badger till today..." She broke off, squinting her dusky zaffer eyes shot with sky blue as she realised that what she had just said wasn't quite true. There was something about their growls that was entirely understandable to her. Something deep in her memory was like a chaffinch wildly fluttering its tiny wings in a narrow gap of a spiky, unforgiving gorse, its branches raking the bird as it attempted to scream for its freedom. Yes, the memory was much too far away for Robinkit to possibly think about, she decided, and so she wouldn't have to tell Flamewing. Her blue eyes widened again as she collapsed under her two front legs, and rested her head on her incarnadine paws until she felt comfortable.

"Can we stay here for a while?" she added in a high-pitched tone; the rufous fur that covered her flanks was still rising and falling with her rapid breathing. She looked quite hopeful, but then sank her head lower on her paws when she caught sight of Flamewing licking her wound. "Oh... maybe it'd be better we get you to Sandstripe?" The dissapointment was not hard to miss in her voice.